


divergence

by Forestgreengirl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, this is the bad place
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23751970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forestgreengirl/pseuds/Forestgreengirl
Summary: name me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy.The fates are not kind to it’s heroesAll the blood was never poetic,It was just red.Or(Canon Divergence after Ahsoka is arrested for the temple bombing. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out how we hope.)
Relationships: 212th Attack Battalion & Obi-Wan Kenobi, 501st Legion & Ahsoka Tano, 501st Legion & Anakin Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Bail Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Plo Koon, Plo Koon & Ahsoka Tano, Plo Koon & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 21
Kudos: 124





	1. if I touch my body, does it mean i’m still here?

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: mentions of war, child death, character death

It almost blindsides him, the way the force swells with overwhelming fear. It catches Anakin off guard too, the younger man stumbles slightly, one hand pressing against the wall as he wobbles. 

Obi-Wan doesn't even have enough time to process who the  _ kriff  _ is causing this level of fear in the force, he hasn’t felt that since the Umbara mission, or when he knelt side-by-side with children’s dying bodies all those years ago. 

_ (this isn’t the pain of losing civilians, this is the pain of somebody close to him being so terrified it shrieks into the force.)  _

The fear leaves after a few seconds, a few seconds that leave him gasping for air, his lungs burning by having the breath knocked out of him, being replaced by a wave of pain that leaves as quickly as it comes. 

The last thing he feels like is the peaceful acceptance before the force goes silent, leaving everything around him cold and strangely empty.

_ (Who has he lost, who else has he lost to this blasted war. He can’t handle losing someone else, not after Sati- no, don’t think about it.) _

_ (Release your feelings)  _

He takes a moment to inhale, trying to release the tight grip of despair from where it’s clutching his heart. He quickly becomes aware of the hurt rebounding from Anakin’s side of the bond. 

He spins himself around suddenly, hands automatically coming up to rest on Anakin’s shoulders as his former padawan wildly glances around, chest heaving as his whole body  _ shakes. _

“Anaki-?” 

He doesn’t even have time to finish his question before Anakin takes off in a run, shoving people out of the way as Obi-Wan frantically tries to keep up with him, apologising to people as he goes.

He doesn’t know what’s shaken Anakin so badly, part of him doesn’t want to find out. 

He’s got a bad feeling about this.

  
  


**** 

  
  


“Anakin stop it!” Obi-Wan shouts as they reach the front of the senate, one hand coming up to clasp Anakin’s shaking wrist. 

“Stop! Let me go! I have to get to her!” Anakin isn’t even making sense anymore, Obi-Wan is trying to get him to  _ calm down  _ enough to think rationally. 

People are staring at them with fascination, Obi-Wan  _ really  _ doesn’t want them watching his former padawans apparent nervous breakdown.

“Get to who! Anakin what are you talking about?” Obi-Wan can feel fear clawing its way up to this throat, he has a sneaking suspicion of what’s happened. He’s praying to the force that he’s wrong.

This is one of the few times he actually doesn’t want to be right.

He reaches out, trying to locate all the force presence of his friends, he finds all but one, one shining, brilliant light is gone and Obi-Wan is  _ praying  _ that there’s another reason for what he’s thinking.

“Ahsoka! She’s hurt! I need to get to her!” 

“You’re not making sense. What’s going on?” 

Except Anakin isn’t saying much because his knees are buckling from underneath him, knees hitting into the cracked concrete as his chest heaves. 

Obi-Wan needs to get Anakin away from the reporters and politicians, he won’t let his former padawan be humiliated like this. 

He hears rapidly approaches footsteps behind him, the clinking of armour alerting him to who’s behind him. 

“General?” Cody’s concerned voice pipes up, and Obi-Wan takes note of how tightly Cody is gripping Rex’s elbow as if to keep him in place.

“Hello, Cody, what’s wrong?” 

“We g-“ he gets cut off by Rex’s panicked voice. 

“Where’s Ahsoka??” 

Obi-Wan doesn't respond, neither does Cody, but the two share a look, they’ve both worked out what’s happened, where Rex is still  _ hoping.  _

Obi-Wan doesn't have that hope, he recognises the way the force writhes in agony, Obi-Wan would be his lightsaber that the whole damn temple can feel this sorrow. 

Obi-Wan never wanted Anakin to feel this sort of pain, this isn’t something he would wish on anyone. 

“Rex?” Anakin’s shaky but still angry voice speaks up, drawing their attention to where Anakin is still collapsed on the ground.

_ (Obi-Wan can’t help but notice how his pose is mirroring a 19 year old kneeling in a generator complex filled with the haze of the sith.) _

“Gen..eral…?“ Rex asks hesitantly, eyes flickering with the quickly dying hope. 

Obi-Wan feels Cody wince from where they are pressed next to each other, Rex doesn't deserve this, Obi-Wan knows how close Ahsoka and Rex were, the Captain doesn't deserve to lose his friend so soon after the carnage of Krell. 

Obi-Wan wishes this isn't happening at all honestly. 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t get to her in time.” 

Rex makes a wordless sound of hurt, Obi-Wan just thinks of the times he's heard that kind of cry only true grief can bring. This war had taken so much from them. 

They promised to fight in a war for the sake of the galaxy, Obi-Wan is not sure whether the cost will ever be worth it. 

_ (He’s seen war like this before, he’s 14 and children are dying around him, and he's 34 and his grand-padawan is gone, theres a real chance he will lose his padawan to this grief.) _

Rex collapses on the ground next to Anakin, pulling himself out of Cody’s grasp. Obi-Wan takes a breath, he can fall apart later, he needs to get Anakin and Rex away from this, and he needs to find where his dear Grandpadawan is, and probably go find Master Plo at the same time. The other Master adored Ahsoka, and if it's making Obi-Wan’s eyes burn at the force of the grief, force knows what it's doing to Plo.

Anakin pulls Rex into a hug, pressing his face into the blonde clone's armoured shoulder, his own shoulders shaking. Obi-Wan doesn’t understand how Anakin can show such open grief, Obi-Wan would rather people think he’s a robot than share that kind of intimate emotions openly. 

“We need to go.” He speaks up, voice like steel. He needs to pretend he doesn’t care, it's the only way he’s getting through this without shattering. 

“Anakin. Stand up, we need to find her, and we need to  _ think _ about this. Carefully.” 

Anakin unsticks himself from Rex, pulling both himself and the Captain up with him. Obi-Wan’s heart throbs at Anakin’s red and teary eyes. He wanted to protect Anakin from this, he didn’t want Anakin to have to bury someone he loves. 

_ (A Master should never have to bury their padawan.)  _

Obi-Wan feels an irrational wave of anger overcome him, the council  _ lied,  _ they promised him that they had more time, that they could prove Ahsoka’s innocence, Anakin had  _ found _ the evidence, they were going to save her.

They were too late.

_ (an almost win hurts so much worse than no win at all could.)  _

  
  


****

  
  


Obi-Wan loops an arm around Anakin, pulling him closer to his side, he cannot take Anakin’s pain, he cannot make this type of grief fade, not when it burns like wildfire, his heart spasming inside his chest. 

He could not save his Master, he cannot save his grandmaster, and he cannot save his grandpadawan; he was going to see Anakin through this, even if it kills him. 

Obi-Wan slides his negotiator mask in place, nobody gets the satisfaction of seeing the grief that coats his force signature, he needs to keep it together, if he falls; so does Anakin. 

( _ he won't lose anyone else. He refuses.)  _

_ (Release his emotions)  _

He tilts his head up, eyes locking onto the reporters around him, they avert their eyes. Good, this is not their grief, they do not get to witness it. 

He needs to plan, and he needs to work out what the  _ kriff  _ happened; because Ahsoka didn't get a trial, they didn't even have evidence to truly arrest her. Something reeking of Senate involvement happened, something filled with injustice. 

Obi-Wan is not a cruel person, but he will no longer stand by and watch those he loves hurt over and  _ over  _ again. 

_ (Release his feelings)  _

  
  
  



	2. if I die in my sleep, can I call it a blessing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> obi-wan feels like he’s drowning in how wrong everything is, he doesn’t know how to fix how everything went wrong. 
> 
> (or, obi-wan says fuck you to the council, and has a nervous breakdown)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title from a poem by Emily Palermo.

Having to leave his men behind, and leave Anakin only in the company of Rex and Cody shouldn’t have hurt as much as it actually did. Walking away from those things made him irrationally worried, his mind an endless cycle of ‘ _ I can’t keep them safe if I can’t see them’.  _ He struggled with this sort of a thing as a kid, but everyone had thought he had outgrown that childish behaviour. 

Every step away reminds him of exactly why he’s so  _ angry.  _ Ahsoka was family to him, and despite what Anakin, and everyone else might think; Obi-Wan was never very good at getting rid of his attachments. 

Ahsoka was his grandpadawan, someone he had seen grow up since she was a child, he’s seen her go through more in her teenage years than most Jedi would go through in their entire life. 

Out of everyone in this war, Ahsoka was supposed to be the one to escape it and live her life. Obi-Wan always thought he’d be the first to die, had spent nights begging for it, he  _ never  _ expected that Ahsoka would be the first. 

He avoids eye contact with the other Jedi as he walks past, he doesn’t want them to see the anger that is no doubt swimming in his eyes, Doesn't want them to see how what they’ve done has affected him so deeply. His blood boils when he remembers it, how they so carelessly let Ahsoka be executed, despite promising to give Obi-Wan and Anakin enough time to find the evidence to clear her name.

And they were so  _ close,  _ they had worked out who had framed her  _ (Little Bariss Offee, and Obi-Wan wants to growl and hate her so badly, but she's just a child, a child who had so obviously been manipulated by something unseen)  _ They were going to clear her name, and then they were going to trust her with whatever choice she made. They were going to get her  _ out  _ of the war. He just never expected that it was going to be like this. 

He seems to have sped up as he was in thought, quickly coming to a stop outside the council chambers, chambers that had honestly never seemed so  _ ugly.  _ Well at least not since after Bruck Chuns death, when he was in Ahsoka’s place  _ (What was with the Jedi and never trusting its Padawans. Their entire lineage was cursed.)  _

He’s both thankful that he remembered to call a meeting before coming here, it would of been Very awkward to show up to an empty chamber, but at the same time, walking into a room full of people was  _ not  _ what Obi-Wan wanted to be doing right now, especially as the anger followed him where he went, unable to release it into the force. His chest burns at the thought of how he's proven so many people right; still just the violent kid who couldn't control his temper. 

“Obi-Wan? Mind explaining what was the meaning of this meeting?” Mace Windu’s tired voice speaks up, jolting Obi-Wan back to the present. 

“Well, I’ll tell you-” He begins, coming to stand in the middle of the room, arms crossed as he glared at each and every one of them. God he’s remembering why he disliked the council so much as a padawan, seriously, did Mace even know how to smile? “- What the  _ kriff  _ were you guys  _ thinking _ !”

They nervously glance around at each other, confusion evident between all of them, and Obi-Wan notes with concern how they’re very obviously missing Plo Koon. He mentally reminds himself that he needs to check on the fellow Jedi Master, he has always had a soft spot for the Togruran Padawan. Enough that Plo’s Commander, Wolffe, had developed a soft spot for Ahsoka in turn. 

Obi-Wan has a sinking feeling that this isn't about to go how he has intended. God he should have come here with a plan, he’s been spending too much time around Anakin lately  _ (and Ahsoka, his grandpadawan, but she's gone and he’s never going to see her joking around with the Clones again.)  _

“More specific, you need to be.” Yoda states, and Obi-Wan feels an irrational rush of anger at the Grandmaster of the order. 

“I’m talking about you  _ executing  _ my grandpadawan, despite you promising me that you would give us enough time to prove her innocent.” Obi-Wan is already forming a headache, he was on the force-damned council and they still gave him headaches. Him and Depa had bonding over that a while ago, both of them being the youngest members of the council. 

“We didn't.. Obi-Wan what are you talking about?” 

“If you didn't do it, then explain why Anakin felt his own force bond with Ahsoka break, and why I can no longer feel her in the force.” He’s not mentioning his and Ahsoka’s own forcebond as Grandmaster and Grandpadawan, his head pounds whenever he thinks about the empty space in his head. He’s had too much experience with broken force bonds at this point. 

“What? Obi-Wan, we didn't send Ahsoka anywhere. She was supposed to be in the Temple still.” Mace sounds so genuine that Obi-Wan wants to cry, he wants to trust the Council, wants to trust that the only family he's ever known, wouldn’t of condemned Ahsoka, but history repeats itself, this wouldn't be the first time they’ve turned their backs on one of their own. 

_ (He still remembers how hurt he was when they thought he had willingly murdered a fellow padawan, a pain that never truly faded.)  _

“Then where the  _ kriff _ do you suppose she is. Because she's not here! And I  _ remember  _ feeling her agony shriek into the force. Do you know how it feels to have someone you love be in so much pain that it goddamn  _ echoes  _ through the force.” 

His breathing had sped up during that word dump, his chest heaving as it tried to suck in air. Faintly he's aware of how his hands are shaking by his side; he resolves to simply tuck them into his robes. The council looks shocked in the face of Obi-Wan's outburst, he hasn't lost his temper like that for so long  _ (not since he was a child, not till he truly began to fear consequences.)  _

“Calm yourself, you will.” 

“Don’t tell me to calm down! My Grandpadawan is  _ dead _ if you haven't noticed. And if you guys apparently didn't give her over, then tell me how the  _ kark  _ the Senate got ahold of her.”

He needs to calm himself down, he needs to focus on what’s happening in front of him. Except all he can think about is how Ahsoka’s pain has left the force cold where the warmth usually laid, leaving Obi-Wan feeling painfully empty.

He’s trying not to draw connections to this, to what happened all those years ago when he was a child. He should have known he couldn’t trust the council again.

( _ they’re supposed to be your family, you promised you wouldn’t betray them again)  _

“Obi-Wan, you know we promised you time, we would not go back on our word.” Mace sounds more tired than Obi-Wan had ever heard him before, the whole council had a bad air to it, something lingering on the horizon. This war was tearing them out by their roots. 

“How do you know this was not the Senate's doing?” Depa questions after a moment, and Obi-Wan is reminded suddenly that she did care more than she had let on. It seems throughout this war she had simply decided building up her shields were a good idea.

Obi-Wan could relate to that. 

“How? The Senate doesn’t have the power to take a known Jedi for execution without permission from the Council.” 

He’s getting a  _ really  _ bad feeling about this, the feeling just increases as Depa opens her mouth to respond. 

“The senate as a whole doesn't have the power, no, but the Chancellor of the Republic, with the emergency powers? Technically he can do anything.” 

Obi-Wan wants to be sick, what reason would Chancellor Palpatine want Ahsoka dead, she was a good Jedi, and a good person and it doesn’t make  _ sense.  _

_ (Except it does, because something around Palpatine had felt wrong for so long, something has sat heavy on the horizon, and the Chancellor seemed to be at the heart of it.) _

Except Obi-Wan doesn’t even know where to begin to sort that out, doesn’t know how to balance this dizzying loss inside of him, doesn’t know how to help Anakin heal from this loss, Obi-Wan himself had never coped with Qui-Gon’s death, had locked it away so he didn’t feel anything. He doesn’t know how to stop this war, or how  _ his  _ men are dying faster than they can be healed. 

Everything around him had begun to pile up so _ high  _ that Obi-Wan felt like one wrong move would send everything on it’s head. 

He feels a spike of concern from the council members in front of him, he slams his shields up after a moment, pulling the anger and the hurt and locking it up, he can deal with that when nobody needs him to be  _ okay.  _ He forgets sometimes how loud he broadcasts through the force when he forgets to shield. Qui-Gon had been trying to train it out of him for years.

_ (Anakin and Ahsoka were so similar to Obi-Wan, sometimes enough that it made him want to puke, he never wanted to see them make his own mistakes again.)  _

“Investigate this matter, you will. Find what the cause of this was, you will.” 

“...Yes, Master Yoda” Obi-Wan grits out, teeth clenched as he tries to keep the annoyance and hurt out of his voice. He doesn’t want to investigate anything, he wants to take those he loves and go  _ far far away.  _

He turns in the direction of the doors, eagerly ready to escape the questioning eyes of his fellow councilman, he needs to get back to the rooms, needs to make sure everyone is okay, and he  _ needs to find what this has to do with the Senate. _

“Obi-Wan.” Mace’s voice speaks up from behind him, concern heavy in his eyes. Obi-Wan forgot sometimes, that they considered him their friend.

He turns round, sending a questioning look in Mace’s direction.

“Take care of yourself. We are here if you need us.”

Obi-Wan nods, hands shaking by his side at how  _ overwhelming  _ this is; before turning away, leaving the council room as soon as he could. 

He had a mission to complete.

_ (Oh Ahsoka, I promise I will figure this out.)  _

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha I’m back bitches- have this Longer chapter as an apology for dipping for so long. Happy May the 4th for everyone!!! Today and also the series finale of clone wars got me to actually finish this ! 
> 
> come chat on tumblr! (@forestgreengirl)

**Author's Note:**

> UH I’m sorry?? My sister dared me to write this, this is her fault and I stand by that.
> 
> I just figured yanno,, what if,, 
> 
> Come chat on tumblr!! (@forestgreengirl)


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